Tag Archives: welder

Welding For The Greater Good

welder2Bellingham Technical College hosts an elaborate metal sculpture competition annually. Ten amatuer highschool and college teams must capture their artistic visions in scrap metal sculptures in just eight hours. This exciting event exemplifies altruism in action as artworks are subject public auction, with the proceeds benefiting the BTC Welding Student Scholarship Fund, the Welding Rodeo, and participating artists. Visit their website for more pictures and information.

What have YOU built lately? What do you do with your scrap metal?

Welding Career Tips

welder-in-blueWe have posted a lot of information regarding employment opportunities in the welding and metal fabrication industries. But, how can you get started? An article in The Fabricator Magazine features practical advice for beginning your career as a welder. Marty Rice, a welding instructor from a high school career center in Texas and an honorary member of the Ironworkers Local 263, shares his story- his challenges and his triumphs. He also provides tips for achieving the career goals you set for yourself. With a little smarts and alot of sweat, you can achieve the goals you set.

Learn your trade, pay your dues
Advice for new welders
By Marty Rice, Contributing Writer

Welding jobs may not be as plentiful as they once were, but welding instructor Marty Rice believes a lot of welding work is “waiting to bust loose once the economy straightens out, and there’s always work in welding, if you’re willing to pack a suitcase.”

Rice has some advice for those embarking on a welding journey.

I’ve paid my dues during my long and crazy welding career. I’ve had good jobs and bad jobs, good bosses and bad bosses, and I’ve met good and bad people in the field. In my opinion, one good person makes up for a bunch of lousy people. Which do you want to be?

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And, Arc-Zone.com has the PRO Gear Packages to get you started

And don’t forget to ask about our Student Discount Program!

Product Spotlight: Foot Control

HotFoot Remote Amperage Control for TIG WeldingEveryone has their own needs when it comes to remote amperage controls for TIG welding. Mario, from TSR Fabrication (and expert TIG welding guest on Jesse James’s Monster Garage TV show) stopped by to pick up a Arc-Zone Hot Foot™ remote control and we discussed what he likes in a foot pedal. He uses his pedal for a variety of precision TIG welding applications- from high end custom fabricated header systems and turbo intercoolers each one welded by hand and on a turntable. Depending upon the job, he either uses the fine incremental control of the pedal or sets his power source on “RMT” and uses the pedal to start and stop the machine. Mario chooses the Arc-Zone Hot Foot™ brand high-performance foot control “they are durable, comfortable foot pedals with a nice foot bed and extra long cord”.

This foot pedal has a 1/2″ (12.7mm) high heel stop and a low-profile design for precise small current adjustments. Designed for the pro, these high-performance industrial workhorses feature a slim top traction area, non-slip 3M® traction pad, comfortable at-rest and operating foot positions as well as a 27′ (8.2m) cable and high-quality connectors. They contain a patented design which improves low-current welding, while providing precision arc control. These sleek, all steel pedals are available in classic black.

What Customers Have Been Saying

Plugged right into my machine and works great. I love the design with the heal stop. Thanks for taking my old pedal for trade in credit.
Date Added: 05/14/2009 by Roger Wilcox

This PEDAL ROCKS. The extra long design is great for my size 12 boot. Offers better control. Thanks for the M&Ms!
Date Added: 05/05/2009 by John Crane

Check out Arc-Zone’s store– From foot controls to hand controls for TIG Welding, Arc-Zone.com has the industry’s most complete line of controls for Lincoln®, ESAB®, Hobart®, Airco®, Linde®, Miller® and Thermal Arc®. These high-quality controls are engineered for precise amperage control, easy hook-up and comfortable operation.

What applications do you use your foot pedal for?

And, if you have a favorite pedal style or make, let us know so we can make it available to the welding community.

What Your Parents Didn’t Tell You

You’ve always been told that fire and water don’t mix. But what they didn’t tell you is that it can also produce a great weld. Diver welders dance with danger as they weld as deep as 10,000 feet underwater. Some jobs even require diver welders to go to extreme depths and stay in those environments for several days. Excellent precision and concentration are a must as distractions are abundant, from inquisitive sea creatures to strong ocean currents. Using cutting edge technology, underwater welding can produce excellent welds even with those seemingly adverse conditions.

Attitude Is Everything

It is for you, me, and Josh Smith, a Harpersville teen with ambition bigger than the adversity he overcame. Not only did he nearly drop out of school but he also married young and has a 6 week old baby. Despite his situation, last month, he went on to win the prestigious gold medal in welding at the National Skills USA Championship in Kansas City, Mo. Winning the competition actually increased his earning potential and he also won about $17,000 in welding equipment, $500 in cash and a full-tuition scholarship to Tulsa Welding School, which has campuses in Tulsa and Jacksonville, Fla. This compelling story really illustrates how having the right attitude can elevate you above your circumstances, no matter how daunting they may seem.

Harpersville teen wins top welding award

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – By all rights, Josh Smith ought to be little more than another statistic.

He struggled in school, nearly dropped out, married young and has a 6-week-old baby.

He stuck it out, though, and became the first in his family to graduate from high school. And now he’s a champion, having won the gold medal in welding last month at the National Skills USA Championship in Kansas City, Mo.

Suddenly, the 19-year-old Harpersville resident is facing a future much brighter than he could have imagined.

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Welder Honors Friends with Metal Art

BILL FEIG/Advocate staff photo

BILL FEIG/Advocate staff photo

John Rosso is a retired welder who designed a colorful,metal bird sanctuary in his own backyard.He often includes old skillets, painted red,in his sculptures. Each section of the sanctuary, which he calls “The Condo” is dedicated to a personal friend which has passed away during the last few years. The masterpiece is adorned with a myriad of metal ornaments, each one holding a special meaning for the person to whom it is dedicated.

Plaquemine man honors friends with bird sanctuary

PLAQUEMINE — John Rosso, a retired welder, can’t stand to see things go to waste.

His house at the corner of Church and Martin streets was built before 1840. Rosso, 65, owns the house next door. It dates from the early 1900s. Both houses and their yards warehouse cypress and longleaf pine lumber, metal, furniture, hardware, anything Rosso thinks he might have a use for one day.

About 15 years ago, Rosso’s friend, “Doc” Cameron, died. Cameron was a big-time purple martin landlord. As many as 50 pairs of the big swallows spent their springs and early summers in Cameron’s birdhouses on Ford Street.

More than a million people in North America provide lodgings for purple martins, making the birds dependent on humans for nesting places in the eastern United States, according to the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

“After ‘Doc’ Cameron died, they bulldozed three or four of his big purple martin houses,” Rosso said. “That one there is one. I call it ‘The Condo.’”

Rising above Rosso’s backyard, ‘The Condo’ is like an airport in the morning and evening as purple martin families arrive and depart in noisy song.

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